


Flowers bloom and wilt

by TheCurrator



Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: A teensy bit of bullying?, Compared Child by TUYU, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Songfic, They kinda OOC, Unrequited Love, if you've ever been interested in floriography, shitty metaphors, this is the fic for you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCurrator/pseuds/TheCurrator
Summary: A wake up call is needed.
Relationships: Afuro Terumi | Aphrodi/Fubuki Shirou, Unrequited Herafu
Kudos: 2





	Flowers bloom and wilt

**Author's Note:**

> Drinking game: Take a shot everytime Hera shrugs and a flower name is mentioned.

_Compared child, compared child  
I already know  
I'm inferior to that child _

"Fubuki told me that my smile is like the sun," Afuro beams bashfully, cheeks tinted pale pink.

_He's not wrong._

"That's nice," he chuckles, propping his face up with a curled fist. "I'd say you're flattered?"

Afuro simply flushes harder. "I mean..."

He tilts his head, eyes gently closed. "I would be too if someone did that to me."

"Oh, but didn't someone compliment you like that before?"

"Huh? When?" he glances aside, trying to recall.

"Hepai, was it? He said that we both are like the sun and the moon."

There was a silent pause...

Broken by his laughter.

_So don't compare  
Just leave me alone  
My left side hurts and  
It troubles me _

"Oh, that time. I'm he was just j-oking," he kept laughing, hoping it disguised his stutter.

Afuro shrugged cheerfully.

He kept trying to avert his gaze, always failing and going back to Afuro's sunny smile. Something in his chest aches and his breath falters.

_Somehow feel the difference  
I was alive but stretched _

He doesn't know why the sun and the moon are considered a pair. Aren't pairs something or a word to symbolize two equal forces that compliment each other?

The moon doesn't glow. It reflects the light of the sun. Why would the moon be equal with the sun?'

You wouldn't look at a lamp and a mirror and they're similar.

_Stop projecting you inferiority complex onto inanimate objects._

_ABCDEFG  
Whatever choice I make  
It seems I'll always fail  
And I got hurt some more _

He really doesn't know how Afuro does it.

Losing the tournament and getting exposed had been a huge blow for him.

But Afuro had gotten right up and dusted himself off. Maybe it's because he hadn't have to fight for long.

"I'm going to fight with Raimon."

He stays quiet and nods. He always does.

The ache is back. Stronger this time.

Afuro blinks. "Are you okay? You've been awfully quiet."

He rubs his neck. "You're leaving."

Afuro smiles, trying to reassure. "It's not for that long."

_The pain, the pain, fly away  
There's no point in thinking  
I started crying  
How easy I would be if you stabbed me  
I want to be thrown away _

"Thanks for accompanying me," Afuro smiles.

He shrugs. "It's nothing, really."

The train arrives, slowing to a stop and the doors open as Afuro picks up his duffel bag.

"Well, bye," with a quick wave, Afuro was whisked away.

He's always liked trains. Something about them seemed so ethereal to him.

A tear shakily runs down his cheek and his body rattles with a coughing fit, more following after.

_Compared child, compared child  
I already know  
It's fate that people mock what I love most _

_"Ne, doesn't it get boring just sitting there all day?"_

_He shook his head. "It's a good spot to sit. And better to daydream about slow settings."_

_The boy crinkled his face and ran to his sister. "Nee-san, that guy is weird."_

_She waved apologetically at him. "Some people just have their head in the clouds."_

_He turned back to the hydrangeas blooming fully by the garden. He had found a book in the little library of the orphanage. It's contents about floriography. Of all books that he'd found that week, that one caught his interest._

"Your drawings aren't good. You should probably stop," a classmate enquires.

"You aren't good at basketball. Yet you still play," he points out.

He still doesn't understand why he was hit.

_That's why I give up  
Yes, I give up already  
Just leave me alone  
But I keep dreaming of something  
Ridiculous, Isn't it? _

"You sure do like flowers, huh?" Hepai crossed his arms behind his head.

He shrugged. "What some represent can be poetic."

Afuro skipped up to them. "The red rose is my favourite! Also known as the lover's rose."

"Enduring love, huh?" Afuro drooped onto his arm, nodding enthusiastically.

"Wanna know why it's so romantic?" he winked.

Afuro frowned. "I heard it's a sad story. I'd rather not."

He had laughed. "Good choice."

_It was only for a bit, just a little while  
But I was facing it as my one true self _

He sighed, dropping a ball into the basket containing other dusty and worn spheres.

He could go visit Afuro at the hospital, the city wasn't that far away.

But he would rather not delude himself. No doubt Afuro would find another team to slip into and fly. Maybe higher than before.

_VW & XYZ  
No matter which side I take  
It seems that only failures are noticeable  
Oh? It just got worse _

He sighed, watching the opposing side whoop and cheer. Again.

Some of his teammates watched silently, resigned to their fate. other moped sulkily.

Hitomiko-san put a comforting hand on Saginuma's shoulder and nobody said a word.

_So dark, so dark, I'm so scared  
And before I knew it, my body wouldn't budge  
I can't even see the things I love _

His house is quiet, no music being played on a speaker for once.

There's a pile of washed laundry he hasn't folded and five books of homework he hasn't touched waiting on his table. He's kinda hungry, but isn't it too late for dinner? Should he just get a snack then?

His frantic thoughts halt immediately as he retches again, more petals soaked in red dripping from his lips.

He wonders what kind of flowers had escaped his body.

His floriography book is right next to his untouched homework. He decides to flip through it.

Acacia. He raises his eyebrows. Not the best looking flower.

The meaning is...

_Secret love._

How unsuprising.

_The girl next to me raised a flag  
It's too dazzling _

"Eh, Kagamine-chan, you cut your hair?" a classmate's voice reached his ears.

The girl sitting next to him, Kagamine, nodded. "Yup."

"How come?"

Kagamine beamed with a chuckle. "Well, just to symbolize some change."

He looked away, glossing over his bad grade.

"Eh? But what are you changing? Your grades are top notch."

_Compared child, compared child  
I'm alive in spite of it all  
I can't bring home any good results but I'm  
Still alive _

He wonder is the striped carnation petals are trying to tell him something.

_Refusal._

About what? That he should just kill himself?

Something nagged him at the back of his mind.

He pushed it away hastilly.

_So I let go of my breath and closed my mouth  
Just leave me alone  
Then I will close my eyes  
Finally, it's the end _

Anemone - Forsaken, sickness, anticipation, undying love

Forget soul animals, he has never related so much to a flower in his life.

And now that Anemones themselves have shown up, he feels no more doubt or even the desire to delude himself.

He's dying. Because of love.

The irony has him laughing in his bathroom at two in the morning, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Oh, the irony.

The Anemones laugh along.

_From parallel lines, we cross our paths  
Hey, let's put it all aside for now _

"You got a favourite flower?" Fudou stares out the window.

"Do you?" he looks up from his book.

Fudou pauses for a moment. "Does lavender count?"

He shrugs. "I guess."

"They smell nice."

"Relaxing?"

Fudou nods.

"How about you? What's your favourite?" Fudou turns to him with a lazy smirk.

"There are many kinds that I like but if I have to narrow it down, I guess...Carnations."

Fudou whistled. "Like em' big and fluffy?"

He nodded and looked outside to see that it had stopped raining.

"Can we go out now? The coffee smell here is terrible."

Fudou laughed and slung an arm over his shoulder as they walked out.

"Hot chocolate boy," he ignores Fudou's roll of the eye.

He found himself in a park, Fudou following him silently.

"Pretty, aren't they?" he mutters as he softly brushes the petals of pink hydrangea, watching stray drops of rain fall to the ground by his touch.

"Yes."

It isn't Fudou's voice. He looks to his left to see Afuro with his sunny smile, fingers intertwined with that of a boy with grey hair that resembles the cloudy sky.

He closes his eyes and smiles as his throat starts to itch and the flowers nearly come tumbling out with his words. "Congrats."

Afuro chuckles bashfully, cheeks tinted the flush of the hydrangea.

Fudou crosses his arms and stares into the distance as he stumbles into a toilet stall, promptly choking out some fluffy shrubs.

It's yellow carnations this time.

_Rejection. Disdain. Disappointment._ The flowers know what's up.

He walks out, a little wobbly on his feet and nearly cries as he sees Fudou turn on the faucet, eyeing him with a hint of compassion.

_Impossible._

"...You know you're being stupid, right?" Fudou confronts him on their way back.

He hates confrontation.

"I know," he keeps his eyes strained at the sky. It's cleared out a little, now the shade of Fudou's eyes.

"..There's plenty other pretty boys." 

_Pity._ Such a word. He didn't understand why so many people didn't want to be pitied. They were being offered help. Unlike him, whom had no such thing. Until now, with the sympathetic look on Fudou's face, eyebrows creased and lips pressed into a worried frown, barely noticeable at all did he understand. If even just a little.

"Maybe I like one with demonic eyes, sunshine for hair and a dazzling smile."

He spreads his arms out as if to express how amazing Afuro was. Or maybe to grow wings and fly far away.

Fudou doesn't answer, staring at the ground.

_Compared child, compared child  
I already know  
My efforts won't go rewarded even 'til the end  
So don't mind me and don't talk to me  
Just leave me alone _

Morning glories have never really caught his attention.

They're plain and not very pretty to him, so he doesn't really pay attention to them.

But like all the other flowers that crawled their way up from his throat, they offer a slap to his face as a reminder of his feeLiNGs. _Ugh, feelings._

_Love in vain, affection._

He feels like puking again.

_If only I knew from the start_

"It'll be winter soon," Afuro comments, twirling a dead leaf between his fingers.

"Daffodils are one of the first flowers to bllom after winter."

_Uncertainty, return my feelings._

He blinks, trying to push those thoughts away. _New beginnings, new beginnings._

Afuro nods dreamily. "Fubuki likes winter activities. Maybe I'll learn to skate."

He snickers. "What if you fall flat on your face?"

Afuro smiles. "Fubuki will catch me."

He swallows down some bloody petals, lungs flaring with each breath. "Ew. Keep your lovesick mush to yourself."

_Unrequited love._

_That I'd come to hate you_

He's seen prettier colours, he thinks as he stares down at some orange lily petals.

_Desire. Passion. Hatred._

He sighs, the heavy sound echoing through the room listlessly.

He wonders of fudou would be willing to hear him out at six in the morning, two hours before he usually wakes.

Probably not.

_Compared child, compared child  
I know he's talking to me  
He's just making assumptions beacuse he can't see anything _

"Do you like someone. You'll understand if you do."

He chuckles. "Ah, well, they don't like me back so it's a bit different."

"Oh, but you do understand, right?"

"You're being vague. Understand what?"

"How much you would do and sacrifice for that person."

He pauses, then nods. "Yeah."

Afuro smiles, then perks up as if suddenly remembering something. "Who do you like?"

He laughed softly. "It's a secret."

Afuro leaned closer with a pout. "Tell me."

He shook his head, much to Afuro's displeasure. "You really won't?"

He laughed again. "I won't~"

_So remember this and don't you forget it anymore  
I actually love you very much _

He has a desire to buy Afuro flowers when his throat starts to itch.

Maybe some pink roses - Gratitude, admiration

Clovenlip toadflax(scientific name?) - Please notice my love

Aphsodel? _My regrets follow you to the grave._

He feels a small petal press against his tongue and recognizes it as that of hydrangea.

Pink - Heartfelt emotion or purple - A desire to deeply understand someone?

It doesn't really matter, as all those feelings and emotions went unsaid and hidden, all eventually boiling down to him treating Afuro to cake for the umpteenth time.

"Thanks!" Afuro beamed as he clutched a box of strawberry cake.

He waved a hand dismissively. "You're welcome."

_You stopped breathing as I embraced you_

"It's fine, Aphrodi," he tries to reassure his captain. Hypocrite.

"It's not," Afuro shakes his head frantically with his eyes squeezed shut.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to think to say something more meaningful.

Afuro trembles, probably on the verge of crying. It's a bold and risky move, but he does it anyway.

Afuro's breath hitches as he enveloped the other in a hug.

"..If you're going to bear all that weight, at least let me carry some for you."

At the very least...

He managed to express that.

_The two of them linking hands_

"You really did never tell me who you like," Afuro says as he stares off into the distance.

"I'm trying to keep my word here," he lightly brushes the petals of some pink hydrangea.

He looks over the park, bushes of pink and purple hydrangea.

"Pretty, aren't they?" He murmurs, closing his eyes.

"Yep," Afuro smiles with a tilt of his head.

"Not really any acidic soil around here."

Afuro nods. "No blue hydrangea..."

"Want some cake?" He turns away and walks toward the direction of the exit.

Afuro grins. "Only if you treat me!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry?


End file.
